Silhouette Gifts

I think I found my all time favorite Christmas ornament to make for my students' families!

One of my favorite things to do is to use my student's pictures in projects. A few years ago I started using my students silhouettes in projects too and they have been a HUGE hit with parents. Do you already own the file below? If so, you can now use that same Photoshop tutorial to make some silhouette ornaments!

After using the tutorial from that file, you can then follow the tutorial below to cut your silhouettes on vinyl using a die cut machine (I use a Cricut).

Click on the video above to learn how to cut the silhouettes.

{An alternate route is to take pictures of your students and cut them out by hand. You can then use those cut outs to trace them around vinyl. }

This is what you will do:

I picked up the vinyl from Amazon, the transparencies are from Office Depot, and the ornaments are from Hobby Lobby. (Try to get the plastic ones if possible.)

Don't have transparency sheets or vinyl? You could make the cut outs using a die cutter or cutting by hand on paper. Then laminate the paper. You can then follow the rest of the steps to create your ornaments :-)

Once it unrolls {you may need some tweezers to help you get the cut out positioned}, it will look like this:

Just add some ribbon and you are done!

I cut the silhouettes out at 2.18 inches, but I'm thinking of cutting them out at about 1.8 inches to leave room for some snow at the bottom of the ornament.

Update May 2017:

I created these mugs a couple of years ago using mugs from the Dollar Tree and they were the perfect Christmas gifts! This year I am making them for Mother's Day.

In order to make them, you will cut your vinyl the exact same way as the video you saw above, but you will need to adjust how tall the silhouettes are depending on the size of your mugs. I went to the Dollar Tree again this year and found lots more mugs that will work perfectly. The larger the mug, the better so that the silhouette will show more detail.

Some helpful tips:

1. make sure to get mugs that have "straight" walls. If the sides curve in at the bottom, you will have a difficult time getting the vinyl to adhere.

2. Use permanent vinyl. I recommend the Silhouette brand. Click on the image below for a direct link:

My kids and their families loved this gift! I definitely will be making them from now on!